Kurdish media outlets named two journalists killed in the strike while earlier reports from the Iraqi media suggested that a senior PKK member was targeted. A KRG official has condemned the incident as Ankara remains silent. An airstrike targeted a vehicle in the Said Sadiq town of Kurdistan Regional Government …
Bêtir »15 bar associations: Erasing writings in Kurdish harms the culture of coexistence and social peace
15 bar associations reacted against the hostile policies towards the Kurdish language and emphasised that attacks against Kurdish are an indication of intolerance towards the existence and culture of Kurds. 15 bar associations made a joint written statement on the removal of the traffic warning signs “Hêdî (Slowly)” and “Pêşî …
Bêtir »Elhuyar utilises participatory methodology for linguistic plans
We have also a language technology department that develops automatic translators, voice synthesis technology… and some other tools that help us guarantee or increase the use and presence of Basque not only at work, but in many other areas. This is how for 52 years Elhuyar has developed new units: …
Bêtir »Call for solidarity with Kurdish media
The police raided two important Kurdish TV channels, which have the mission to inform the Kurdish people, without informing the officials and lawyers of the organisations. During the raid, the police broke the doors, removed the screens, cut the cables, tore up the desks and deliberately damaged the technical equipment …
Bêtir »Kurdish media outlets targeted in Europe condemn ‘double standards’ on free speech
Belgian authorities carried out overnight raids on two Brussels-based Kurdish TV studios. The media outlets condemned the attacks, and vowed to continue free, fair and transparent reporting. Belgian authorities carried out overnight raids on two Brussels-based Kurdish TV studios. The media outlets condemned the attacks, and vowed to continue free, …
Bêtir »Linguistic struggle must be an axis of the national liberation
Interviewer: Necat Ayaz We must look at other processes of language revitalization, and in our case we have seen that in the case of Ireland, even with its own state in most of its territory, it has not resolved the language issue. I think this is a very risky option. …
Bêtir »How Kurdish language divisions hinder access to information
The scarcity of online resources points to an endangered language Although the Kurdish languages possess a rich history, celebrated for their expansive vocabulary and expressive abilities, they face a shortage of online resources. The different writing scripts, along with the absence of standardization and ongoing power struggles among Kurdish communities, …
Bêtir »Interview with a Diasporan Armenian Writer
C.K. Garabed (a.k.a. Charles Garabed Kasbarian) has been active in Diasporan Armenian community organizations all his life. As a writer and editor, he has been a keen observer of, and outspoken commentator on, political and social matters affecting Armenians. For more than 40 years, his writings have appeared in the Armenian press in the …
Bêtir »Google Translate adds Kurdish Sorani
In 2016, Google announced it had added Kurmanji Kurdish to its translation service, alongside 12 other languages, but not Sorani, which is spoken in Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhilat), in addition to the southern parts of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Google Translate on Wednesday announced it will add 24 new languages, …
Bêtir »Teacher expelled for speaking Kurdish in Turkey
The use of Kurdish in public was banned in Turkey in the 1990s, and Kurds weren’t allowed to learn their mother tongue. There were restrictions for kindergartens, city theaters, and cultural clubs operating in the Kurdish language. A secondary school teacher at the Mersin Akdeniz District Ulubatlı Hasan Secondary School …
Bêtir »Kurdish is forbidden at prisons in Turkey
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan before Local Election of 31 March 2019 claimed that Kurdish was allowed in prison. Unfortunately, Kurdish publications, television and radio channels have been banned and authorities have not allowed Kurdish language to be spoken during the meeting between prisoners and their parents. Aqide Ertas, mother of …
Bêtir »Words in Mother Tongues Recorded as ‘X’ in Parliament Minutes
MPs from opposition parties celebrated the February 21 Mother Tongue Day in yesterday’s parliamentary session with messages in Kurdish and in the languages of minorities in Turkey.The words in languages other than Turkish were recorded as “x” in the minutes of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM). On the …
Bêtir »Kurdish translator Kawa Nemir vows to keep Kurdish publishing going from Amsterdam
The Amsterdam based Foundation for Literature gave Kurdish poet and translator Kawa Nemir a chance to catch his breath after arriving in the Netherlands from Turkey, where he was under increasing political pressure; Nemir became a writer in residence in the foundation’s program ‘Refuge City’. But Nemir is not the …
Bêtir »Russia’s Sputnik news agency closes Kurdish edition
Russia’s state-run Sputnik news agency has closed down its Kurdish-language website at the request of the Turkish government, according to a report by online news outlet Artı Gerçek. Sputnik announced on Saturday that it had ended its Kurdish language website without mentioning any particular reason for the decision. “Dear readers, we are …
Bêtir »From survival to diaspora: the Yazidis in North Kurdistan
By Borja G. Moya* A prefabricated building hosts the school of the Yazidi refugee camp, located 20 kilometers outside Amed, the capital of North Kurdistan (Turkey). On a wall, drawings and words written by girls and boys in Arabic script can be seen: even if Sinjar’s Yazidis speak Kurmanji …
Bêtir »Educating Mustafa: Kurdish fighters learn near the front
The 21-year-old is one of dozens of members of the autonomous Kurdish region’s peshmerga forces studying at a school in the northern Iraqi village of Bahra, some three kilometres (two miles) from the closest Islamic State (IS) group position. A sign on a house in the village reads “Peshmerga School”, …
Bêtir »HDP: focus of left-wing opposition beyond pro-Kurdish mobilization
Cuma Çiçek 15 June 2015 HDP success cannot be understood without taking into consideration the ongoing Kurdish spring in Iraq, Syria and Turkey over the last decade. Turkey left behind it a thirteen-year-long period of single-party majority governments in the June 7 election. AK Party (Justice and Development Party) …
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